BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU lost its coach and two of its best players over the last three days.

But on Saturday night it won sole possession of the Southeastern Conference championship with an 80-59 victory over Vanderbilt in front of 13,546 at the riotous Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The No. 10 Tigers finished the regular season at 26-5 overall and 16-2 in the SEC – one game ahead of Tennessee and Kentucky, who each finished 15-3. It was LSU's first SEC championship in basketball since the 2008-09 season.

And he was head coach the next day following Wade's suspension and his battlefield promotion.

"I didn't know it would happen this quickly to be honest with you," Benford said. "I've been a head coach before, but not with the type players I've got now."

Benford never had a winning season as North Texas' coach from 2012-17.

LSU president F. King Alexander and athletic director Joe Alleva indefinitely suspended Wade after the Yahoo! story detailed FBI wiretaps from June 2017 that captured Wade talking to recruiting go-between Christian Dawkins about an "offer" for then-Scotlandville High guard Javonte Smart. Later that June, Smart committed to LSU and later signed.

On Saturday, Alleva decided that Smart would be "held" - or suspended - from the Vanderbilt game out of "an abundance of caution," pending LSU's own investigation of the Yahoo! story and the FBI probe. Smart, who is averaging 11.4 points in 30 games and 17 starts this season, sat on the LSU bench in casual clothes.

"We'll have to wait and see after (LSU) completes the investigation," Benford said. "Hopefully, (Smart) will be ready to go on Tuesday."

The Tigers will take Sunday and Monday off before a practice Tuesday. LSU next plays at 1 p.m. ET on Friday in the SEC tournament against an opponent to be determined.

"I had a chance to talk to him today," Benford said. "He said to get ready and go win a championship. We wanted to win it outright. We watched Auburn beat Tennessee, and we said we don't want to share this with anybody."

LSU won it also without starting freshman forward Naz Reid, who sat out the game after suffering a blow to the face in the Tigers' win at Florida on Wednesday night. Reid is averaging 13.3 points and 6.9 rebounds in 30 games and 28 starts.

"Naz is fine," Benford said. "He just got hit in the face."

Freshman forward Darius Days came off the bench to fill in for Reid's inside scoring as he led the Tigers with 15 points.

"This is awesome," Days said. "SEC champions."

Point guard Tremont Waters, who scored 14 points with eight assists and four steals, felt Wade's presence as well.

"He was there in spirit," Waters said. "I'm pretty sure, 101 percent, he was watching the game. And I'm pretty sure when we messed up, he was yelling at the TV."

There was not a lot to yell about as far as the Tigers, though. Six players scored in double figures in all as LSU breezed to the win, leading 43-28 at halftime and by as many as 30 at 70-40 in the second half. But the win was nevertheless bittersweet.

"I don't remember. I don't want to comment," Waters said when asked how he learned his coach had been suspended.

"The last 48 hours have been kind of a roller coaster," guard Skylar Mays said after donning his new SEC championship shirt.

"I just tried to be myself. I figured if I panicked everybody else would panic," Mays said after scoring 13 points with four assists. "We deserve to be up here wearing these championship shirts and hats. We've gone through a lot of adversity."

Vanderbilt became the first team in SEC history to finish 0-18 in the league and the first team to not win an SEC game since Georgia Tech was 0-14 in the 1953-54 season. Guard Saben Lee scored 16 to lead the Commodores, who last won a game on Dec. 31, - 90-59 over UNC-Asheville.

"Congratulations to LSU for winning the championship and having a tremendous season," said Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew, a Baton Rouge native whose father Homer Drew was an LSU assistant under Dale Brown from 1972-76. "The LSU fans were tremendous. The student section, I thought, was a little extra loud. So, credit to them, for coming out and really supporting their team."

But that extra volume came from the LSU students booing Alleva for his role in suspending Wade as much as for the Tigers.

The students chanted "Joe Must Go," "Let Joe Go" and "Joe Is A Coward" amid hearty boos while also yelling "Free Will Wade" with some wearing shirts with those words. Police took away students' signs critical of Alleva.

When Alleva went to his seat at mid-court before tip-off, fans of all ages from throughout the arena booed him ferociously.

"This is what we all came to LSU for," Graves said. "People cheering. People protesting. Whatever."